Romer disputes friction at W.H.

Council of Economic Advisors Chairwoman Christina Romer on Friday pushed back against speculation that her frustration with National Economic Council Director Larry Summers’s direct line to President Barack Obama led her to resign.

Romer, who has a 13-year-old son entering high school in the fall, told MSNBC her decision to leave the West Wing and return to teach at the University of California at Berkeley “was purely for family reasons,” and not the result of friction inside the administration. She insisted to Bloomberg TV that Summers had become one of her “dear friends.”

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"Everybody knows we're all strong personalities," Romer told The Associated Press. "We don't hesitate to have a very aggressive back-and-forth. But I think one of the things that we have done is absolutely find our groove. We're a wonderful team."

The consensus among people who worked with Romer is that she would lobby for Austan Goolsbee, a member of the council, to be the next chairman, according to people familiar with the situation. “It would be an injustice if Austan didn’t become chair,” one person said. “It would be a shame for him not to take the next step.”

Romer's public assertions come in the wake of the National Journal’s Hotline.com report that she quit in frustration because she felt Summers’s access to Obama undercut her authority — a story that ultimately sent the White House scrambling to announce her resignation. White House aides insisted into late Thursday night that the story, based on anonymous sources, was unfounded; Summers even released a statement that declared Romer an “extraordinary friend and colleague at the White House.”

However, clashes between the two influential economists have been no secret.

In “The Promise,” Jonathan Alter’s book on Obama’s first year, Summers allegedly tried to stop Romer from attending meetings with the president. “Don’t you bully me,” Romer is quoted as saying.

Amy Siskind, president and co-founder of The New Agenda, an organization working to advance women in leadership roles, said Romer’s departure speaks to a “boys’ club” vibe within the White House. Siskind pointed out that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner had initially been hesitant to endorse Elizabeth Warren to head the new Consumer Protection Bureau, and that Summers stormy, five-year tenure as president of Harvard University ended amid allegations he was insensitive to women — charges spurred by a 2005 remark that “issues of intrinsic aptitude” among women lead to poorer performances than those of men in math and science.

While making cable news rounds Friday morning to explain the new jobs report, Romer addressed the tension.

“I know there were lots of reports of some fireworks early on, but the truth is we are great colleagues and been a good team and fought for many of exactly the same policies,” she told Bloomberg TV.

People familiar with the situation said that while “some tension” existed early on between Romer and Summers, they eventually worked out their differences. “When everyone’s brand new, everyone’s trying to figure out their place in the world,” one person said.

“Christie and Larry have formed a very good relationship,” the person said.

Romer’s job, however, has not been without its own frustrations.

At the Treasury Department’s May symposium on women in finance, Romer said what she "definitely noticed in the White House and elsewhere is just [a] difference in how people communicate" to make their point. "I've never had to interrupt people before in my life … sometimes, you've got to speak up, even when there isn't a gap in the conversation."

At the same time, chairing the White House Council of Economic Advisors isn’t typically a long-term gig; Romer’s year and a half is actually the norm.